James Watt, British Ambassador to Egypt, delivered a message of recognition and remembrance for the victims of war.

"I find it fitting that we are assembled today in this beautiful cemetery in which the fallen of so many countries are honoured. The majority of the countries which took part in the North Africa campaign are represented here as their headstones recurrent in their simple and moving way. For quite a number of them, the heroism shown by their young men is an important part of their founding story as modern nations. That too is right and fitting; what better inspiration can we fined of self sacrifice and personal courage," Mr Watt said.

The ceremony included a piper playing the bagpipes while veterans and VIP guests laid wreaths in honour of the soldiers who lost their lives.

After the war, many returned to their countries, but Polish Colonel Isiziswa Bekheta traveled to London instead and has lived there ever since.

"We fought at Mersa Matruh and Tobruk and Gazala, all these Libyan campaign and then we moved over to the Middle East, to Iraq because some of the Polish soldiers were released from camps in Russia, they came over to strengthen our brigade and it became the huge Polish army," he said.

Many of the veterans walked along the graves after the ceremony looking for a name they might recognize, Australian veteran Keith Read being one.

"There are some from my unit but a particular friend had been in the air force and he had been killed further North up towards Sidi Burani. I tried to contact where he was buried and the war graves told me that no remains were found but his name is on the wall and I was able to put a poppy up against his name on the wall," he said.

El-Alamein is now an area where Egyptians spend their summers lounging on sandy, crystal blue beaches.

Resorts and private compounds litter the sands of the coast, a rather different scene to the gunfire heard and air force planes that once flew these skies seven decades ago.